Here is the link to our agenda for the TRB Annual Meeting. Our meeting
is Monday morning at 9:00 AM, January 10th in the Hilton Hotel. If you
are going to TRB try to stop by.
http://www.mcs.com/~berwyned/census/notes/0199agenda.html
We will also be hosting a session on Wednesday, January 12, at 10:15 in
the Hilton Hotel. Our session will focus onthe Census Transportaton
Planning Package 2000. It is Session 387 and can be found in the larger
TRB program. Plan on stopping by.
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/trb/annual.nsf
Finally, the CTPP 2000 will have a booth at the Marriot Hotel featuring,
above other things "our now famous postit notes". plan on stopping by.
For now have a Happy Y2K.
See you at TRB
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
Census 2000 Wrap-up: Funding,
GAO Report, State Legislative Activities
Funding for Census 2000: The Census Bureau heads into its final months
of preparation for Census 2000 with nearly the full amount of funding it
requested to carry out the count in 2000. On November 29, President
Clinton signed into law an omnibus spending bill covering the Commerce
Department (the Census Bureau's parent agency) and a host of other
federal departments.
The appropriations bill included $4.5 billion for decennial census
operations through the end of fiscal year 2000 on September 30, 2000,
and designated the entire amount as emergency spending. The measure
also mandated an across-the-board cut in federal programs of 0.38
percent but gave agency heads flexibility on how to apply the
reduction. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said his agency would
absorb the cut by scaling back or eliminating low priority census
activities but did not specify which ones.
Fiscal year 2000 funds for the Census Bureau are part of the Commerce,
Justice, State, and The Judiciary Appropriations bill. The final
version of that bill (H.R. 3421) was attached to the District of
Columbia spending bill (H.R. 3194). The entire package is now Public
Law 106-113.
GAO cites need for contingency planning: The U.S. General Accounting
Office (GAO) issued a report earlier this month expressing concern about
the mail response rate and the Census Bureau's ability to meet its
hiring goals. In "2000 Census: Contingency Planning Needed to Address
Risks That Pose a Threat to a Successful Census," the nonpartisan
legislative branch watchdog agency concluded that with only several
months until the start of Census 2000, "significant operational
uncertainties continue to surround the Bureau's efforts to increase
participation in the census and to collect timely and accurate field
data from nonrespondents. These uncertainties raise concerns that the
2000 Census may be less accurate than the 1990 census."
GAO said the Census Bureau's estimated mail response rate of 61 percent
may be difficult to achieve, since it is based in part on evaluations of
the 1998 dress rehearsal in which the Bureau mailed a replacement
questionnaire to all households. The Bureau decided not to include a
second mailing in its final census plan because it is concerned about
duplicate responses and public confusion. GAO also expressed concern
about whether the Bureau's "extensive outreach and promotion effort"
will "[resolve] the long-standing challenge of motivating public
participation in the census," a problem that GAO called "beyond the
Bureau's ability to control."
The report recommends that the Census Bureau develop contingency plans
to address a lower-than-expected mail response rate. It also recommends
that Congress take steps to attract more temporary workers by
eliminating financial disincentives in the law for recipients of Social
Security, veterans healthcare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF), and federal and military pensions, to take census jobs. The
full report (GAO/GGD-00-6) is available on GAO's Web site at
www.gao.govhttp://www.gao.gov.
The GAO study was requested by Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) and Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D-NY), chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of
the House Subcommittee on the Census. Both legislators commented on
GAO's findings in written statements. Rep. Miller said the Census
Bureau's decision not to send a second questionnaire to all households
was "troubling" and that he believes the second mailing would save money
and "allow [enumerators] to concentrate on the hard to count." He also
chastised the Bureau for "short changing" the nonresponse follow-up
operation, currently slated for ten weeks, in order "to begin the
estimation plan supported by the Administration but rejected by the
Supreme Court." The door-to-door visits to unresponsive households are
scheduled to run from April 27 to July 7, while the post-census quality
check survey of 300,000 households (part of the Accuracy and Coverage
Evaluation, or ACE, program) will take place from June 19 to August 18.
Rep. Maloney said the GAO report "shows that there is a quick, efficient
way to protect the 2000 Census from any potential operational
problems." She cited a lower than expected mail response rate and an
inability to hire and retain a sufficient number of temporary
enumerators as the greatest risks to the census plan. The congresswoman
said she would introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes in January
to create a $100 million contingency fund for Census 2000. In 1990, a
low mail response rate and a shortage of temporary workers in some areas
forced Congress to appropriate about $100 million in emergency funds to
complete the count.
State legislative activity update: The controversy over the Census
Bureau's plans to use statistical sampling methods to measure and
correct an expected undercount in Census 2000 continued to be the focus
of debate in state legislatures. In Michigan, the Senate approved
several bills to prohibit the use of census numbers compiled with
sampling methods for redistricting purposes. However, on December 9,
the House passed a substitute measure that designates both corrected and
uncorrected census numbers as "acceptable census data" for the purpose
of drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries,
provided the courts uphold the validity of the data used.
Also in early December, the Pennsylvania State Senate approved a
resolution calling on the Census Bureau to transmit to the states only
census numbers derived from direct counting methods, instead of data
corrected using statistical methods, for redistricting purposes.
However, the House adjourned without acting on the measure.
On November 18, in a letter to Alaska's Assistant Attorney General, the
U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) requested additional information in
order to determine whether a state law affecting the use of census data
for redistricting complies with Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
(as amended). Alaska is one of 16 states covered in whole or in part by
Section 5, which requires approval from the U.S. Department of Justice
(USDOJ) for any changes to election law. The 'pre-clearance' process is
intended to prevent changes that have the purpose or effect of denying
or abridging the right to vote of racial, ethnic, or language
minorities. The Alaska law requires its redistricting board to use
census numbers that are the basis for congressional apportionment; the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled last January that federal law bars sampling
methods in compiling the state population totals used for apportionment,
but left open the question of whether statistically corrected data could
be used for redistricting and the allocation of federal funds. Alaska
submitted the law for USDOJ approval in September.
Census 2000 Initiative web site: Over the holiday break, the Census 2000
Initiative will be updating its Web site, to provide census stakeholders
with current information on key policy and operational issues affecting
the 2000 census. Look for a Special News Alert next month with a
summary of up-to-date resources available on our Web site.
Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be
directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at
terriann2k(a)aol.com. For copies of previous News Alerts and other
information, use our web site www.census2000.org
<http://www.census2000.org>. Please direct all requests to receive News
Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000
Initiative at Census2000(a)ccmc.org or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to
circulate this information to colleagues and other interested
individuals.
